


Me [22F] with my roommate of 1 year [23F], I'm worried I might be home of phobic towards her?

by goon



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-03 20:24:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19471516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goon/pseuds/goon
Summary: It’s totally fine, because Emma’s known about Regina’s bisexuality from the third day of their cohabitation. Regina had been dating this dud named Robin when Emma first moved in and when Emma made some stupid joke about marriage, Regina backed her up against the couch and went off on her for almost twenty minutes about heteronormativity and bi-erasure.“My foster sister, Ruby is bisexual,” Emma had said with a shrug.Regina had narrowed her eyes at her.Straight girl worries she's being homophobic to gay roommate, realizes she's fallen in love with herAU





	Me [22F] with my roommate of 1 year [23F], I'm worried I might be home of phobic towards her?

**Author's Note:**

> woooooo it's been a while folks! i accidentally found sq twitter which accidentally led me to rereading a bunch of really good sq fic and i really miss them so much?! might write some more in this universe bc my kids are so stupid and they need so much help but they're IN LOVE and they're gonna make it aahhhhhhhhh
> 
> Also the whole story is literally plotted from that reddit thread even the very last line of dialogue so heads up i did not write that romantic af declaration (y)

Emma’s in the kitchen shovelling Regina’s illicit Honey Nut Cheerios into her mouth when things start to go awry.

Usually by this time, Regina’s already sequestered in the bathroom, moving like a zombie through a beauty routine Emma thinks is unnecessary. Almost a year into living with her Emma’s learned that Regina Mills, resident tight-ass, is surprisingly _not_ a morning person.

It goes against all anal logic, but that’s just Regina, always going against expectations. Sometimes if Emma is lucky she’s up early enough to watch her roommate’s door open and a sleep ruffled, utterly adorable Regina Mills shuffle out, ignoring her until Emma’s got a cup of coffee in her hands.

She’s expecting all of this: Regina in her ridiculous silk robe and fuzzy slippers Emma got her last Christmas as a joke, fluffy bed head, and muffled Spanish if Emma’s irritating enough. Instead, an unfamiliar woman gingerly steps out and closes the door, taking care not to make noise. She turns around and freezes when she spots Emma watching her on the other side of their kitchen’s pass through window.

Emma’s cheeks are puffed out like a chipmunk and the sleep tank Regina so likes to make fun of is rucked up from where she absentmindedly scratched her stomach.

She rubs her crusty eyes and when she decides what’s she’s seeing is probably real and not a very odd nightmare, she blinks.

“Hi,” Emma croaks.

“Hi,” strange girl who’s been in Regina’s room for _some reason_ replies.

They stare at each other for maybe a minute more than is socially acceptable. Emma’s eyes traitorously suss out the following; eyeshadow smudged and messy hair and rumpled clothes and purse in hand and eyes like a deer in the headlights and...

Emma doesn’t know what to say. When she lived with Neal, it was as simple as offering the girl breakfast and chatting merrily before calling them an uber on his dime. Sometimes she even made a friend she was never allowed to invite over. Right now she can’t even think with the way her chest feels like it’s caving in. She’s so confused and Regina has never, ever had anyone _random_ in her room before.

The longer the silence lingers, the more sheepish the girl’s expression gets. “I’m just leaving,” she says quietly, as if Emma’s the wife who’s caught the babysitter leaving her husband’s bed.

It’s not like that, _of course_ , but despite what Emma hasn’t said, the girl seems to take the situation as such. She slips on the jean jacket she’s clutching in her hand with haste and scurries towards the front door. With nary another word, the girl disappears from her apartment. 

Emma stands stock still for seconds after the click of the door signals her solitude. The passage of time seems to slow down and speed up and stand totally still as Emma mentally goes through the series of events leading her up to this very moment.

Fifteen or twenty or thirty minutes later, Regina’s door opens again. There’s some shuffling as Henry the cat takes the opportunity to rush into the room. There’s some coddling in Spanish, likely some petting, some light purring, and out comes Regina Mills, silk robe and all.

Regina stops dead when she makes eye contact with a hazy eyed Emma, staring directly at her.

“Emma,” she says, the usual early morning huskiness sending shivers down Emma’s spine. 

Henry chooses this moment to trot out and twine himself around Emma’s ankles, tickling her out of her deep thoughts of _a girl just came out of Regina’s room at seven in the morning?!?!?_

Her eyes focus just in time to zero in on Regina nibbling on her lower lip, a habit she’s been actively trying to get rid of because as she’s told Emma, “it’s revealing,” and Emma had rolled her eyes and gotten a smack on the arm for it.

Regina must take the fact of Emma suddenly being struck dumb and silent as some sort of brush-off. Next thing Emma knows, the bathroom door is shut with maybe too much force and Henry is startling so badly he’s climbed up onto her shoulder. 

Emma looks down at her bowl of soggy cereal and frowns.

\--

Regina leaves the bathroom forty-five minutes later and does not mention the girl, so neither does Emma, and they never talk about it again.

It’s totally fine, because Emma’s known about Regina’s bisexuality from the third day of their cohabitation. Regina had been dating this dud named Robin when Emma first moved in and when Emma made some stupid joke about marriage, Regina backed her up against the couch and went off on her for almost twenty minutes about heteronormativity and bi-erasure. 

“My foster sister, Ruby is bisexual,” Emma had said with a shrug. 

Regina had narrowed her eyes at her.

A few days later, Emma stuck a bi pride flag on their fridge. Regina hadn’t so much as raised an eyebrow at it. Emma was disheartened until she went to grab a yogurt later in the day and a poorly drawn gold star with _you tried_ written in comic sans in the middle had appeared beside it – a year later and their fridge is covered in stupid memes Regina refuses to acknowledge she’s contributed to.

A month in, Emma began brewing extra coffee for Regina when she figured out what a mess her roommate was in the mornings. She’d not prepared for thanks in the form of homemade dinner and Regina’s glares, with time, blossoming into genuine, show-stopping smiles.

Two months into living with Regina, they’d formed a routine. Coffee and slow conversation in the morning before one of them checked their phone and inevitably needed to rush to class. Evenings in when they’d watch whatever mind-numbing thing there was on Netflix, slowing falling closer together until Regina got too tired and ended up asleep against Emma.

Three months later, Regina and Robin broke up. When Emma asked why, Regina had said, “Marian likes him,” and suddenly her ex-boyfriend and best friend were dating and Regina didn’t seem to care much at all. Emma stopped having to worry about walking in on them, even though she never really did.

So Regina’s always been incredibly discreet and Emma’s never witnessed anybody leaving their apartment before. None of which explains why Emma feels like throwing up when it happens again.

\--

Emma’s had a very good day. 

Professor Hopper commended her on the essay she’d busted her ass on, Ruby bought her favourite sandwich from Granny’s for lunch, and she was about to get home early because the library was so quiet Mary Margaret offered to finish off their shift alone.

It’s the best day she’s had in a while and the cherry on top would be getting into her favourite pyjamas and ordering pizza and getting on the couch with Regina leaning comfortably against her and petting Henry until he became a little engine.

These thoughts come to a grinding halt when she opens the door and Regina is already on the couch, but instead of a cat on top of her, there’s a girl. 

That girl is not Emma, though she’s definitely blonde and definitely works out. Emma’s frozen again, staring dumbly until her brain lines it up in perfect clarity for her.

There’s Regina, her roommate and probably her best friend, with a girl whose hair is two shades lighter than Emma’s _straddling_ her on _their_ couch; the couch they watch Netflix on almost every night. Regina’s hands are on this girl’s upper thighs. They disconnect at the noise of someone entering and look straight at her – and Emma notes with _not_ disappoint, that the girl really looks nothing like her – and she wants to vomit.

She doesn’t. She closes the door as Regina is gets up before the girl can slide off her lap and they both tumble a little until they’re standing up. Emma is staring at Regina while Regina stares at Emma and the girl is looking between them with a slow realization neither of the people who actually live there are privy to. 

“Sorry,” Emma practically squeaks. Regina is blushing for fuck’s sake. It’s goddamn adorable.

“You’re home early,” she says. She’s being defensive, Emma knows, but she doesn’t have a reason to be, right? Emma has the nonsensical urge to point to the pride flag she hung next to the tv to show her support as an ally. 

She doesn’t, mostly because she still wants to barf, but it’s probably the sandwich from earlier. So ok, maybe she’s a little angry Regina’s making out with strangers on _their_ couch, but it’s _fine._

She doesn’t express this, or doesn’t get a chance to when Regina’s blonde friend suddenly pipes in with a, “I’m just gonna go, ok?” 

Emma has a PTSD flashback as the girl grabs her jacket. The nausea comes roaring back when she kisses Regina on the cheek and not so subtly winks, then makes Emma jolt back when her surprisingly cold arm brushes Emma’s as she leaves.

Regina doesn’t say bye, doesn’t acknowledge the _call me_ wink at all. Her fists squeeze tight enough to kill and she holds it in quite spectacularly until they both hear the telltale ding of the elevator going down. Regina takes a deep breath then, looking anywhere but at Emma and says, “I’m sorry, I didn’t think you’d be home so early.”

Emma was kind of expecting a fight, because when Regina gets tense, they get into each other’s faces. It’s inexorable, they argue and they apologize and they never fight the same fight twice. When they’ve sorted it out, Emma gets to hug Regina and it always gets better.

It’s a kind of let down Emma knows she shouldn't be feeling. The hold of it like a snake constricting her throat and slithering down into the quicksand in her stomach, the pit of her sinking deeper and deeper as she struggles against it.

“It’s okay,” she says, and finds she doesn’t mean it, but now Regina is frowning and Emma hates it more than lying. “It’s not a big deal.”

She smiles and it feels shaky. Regina’s frown grows deeper. 

“Are you embarrassed? Because I’m kind of embarrassed too, but it’s really nothing.”

The words feel wrong coming out of her mouth. Regina doesn’t seem to believe her either from the way she’s crossed her arms over her chest. Emma notices her blouse is unbuttoned to the fifth button, two more than even “show them off” Regina would usually dare. 

She forces another smile and feels her stomach roil for it. She tries for teasing. “So what’s her name?”

Regina doesn’t answer. She studies Emma for a moment, something indecipherable in her eyes. It fades away a second later. When Emma blinks, Regina looks more defeated than she’s ever seen her. 

“It’s not important, Emma. I’m never seeing her again,” she says decisively, looking away, shoulders slumped in a decidedly un-Regina way. She walks into her room and closes the door. Emma watches helplessly. When Regina doesn’t come back out, she changes into her pyjamas and collapses onto the couch.

An hour later, the couch sags and Regina is sitting further away than she normally would. It’s been almost six months since Regina’s tried to keep up her facade of being anti-cuddling. Emma hates this, but also understands Regina is an easily spooked animal.

She waits, an hour, maybe two, and finally Regina edges closer. By hour three, Regina’s head is on Emma’s shoulder and Emma’s hand is curled in her hair. Emma can breathe again.

Around midnight, her eyes are beginning to droop when Regina decides to speak.

“It was Marian and Kathryn’s idea,” she confesses softly.

Emma’s a second away from sleep, her personal weighted blanket warm and solid against her side. She hums unintelligibly.

“To get over you.”

Emma can barely mumble “who?” before she’s out.

\--

Emma wakes up on the couch the following morning fresh eyed and ready for the day. After a bout of awkwardness involving Regina coming out of the bathroom and Emma handing her a coffee and Regina looking way too hard at her for no reason, they’d been back to regularly scheduled programming.

They sit at their little kitchen table and Emma does her part and eats all of Regina’s bran flakes. Regina pretends to be mad as she adds to their grocery list. They talk about their week with no mention of any incidents. They make plans for a game night at Ruby and Mulan’s apartment. Regina curses when she realizes she’s late for class. Emma laughs and hands her a prepared travel mug and is rewarded with a kiss on the cheek before Regina flies out of the door. Emma whistles as she washes the dishes and feeds the cat.

And in the following days, Emma doesn’t catch anymore girls leaving their apartment, which is nice. 

What’s not so nice is witnessing Regina suck face when she’s just trying to enjoy a donut and study date with Ruby. This coffee house is two blocks further than she’d usually go, but Ruby yelped it and insisted they come here and now she’s watching through the giant glass front as Regina kisses someone against a tree.

Who does that? A tree? An insult to mother nature! She’s suddenly so upset she wants to hurl. It’s like she can’t escape her roommate’s sexual escapades, like Regina doesn’t have the decency to hide this from her.

Ruby prods her with the sharp end of her pen. “What’re you looking at?” She squints in the direction of Emma’s forceful glare, almost pushing her out of her chair as Emma stares and rubs at the ink mark on her cheek.

“Is that Regina? I thought she was dating that Robert guy?”

“They broke up like a year ago, Rubes.”

“Oh yeah? Is she available? Cause I’m down for that sexy, madam mayor vibe she’s got going.”

“Shut up,” Emma says sharply. She knows Ruby’s in a serious, committed relationship and she knows Ruby’s joking, but the heat of her anger is turning her red. She doesn’t want to conjure up images of Ruby and Regina in her mind but she’s playing a trick on herself — _don’t think elephant, don’t think Regina marrying Ruby and becoming your sister-in-law, don’t think about how their babies will be gorgeous._

She doesn’t even notice Ruby’s shocked look. 

“She’s been bringing home girls and she never used to and I caught her making out with some random the other day and it makes me _sick_ , Ruby,” she spits.

“Emma, what the _fuck_?”

Regina is pulling away now, smiling tightly at the girl and leading her down the street. Emma’s chest feels like it’s full of rocks.

“What?”

“Do you have a problem with your female roommate hooking up with girls?”

“What?”

Ruby narrows her eyes. “Because I never heard you talk like this when Regina was with Roger and it sure sounds like you’re upset at Regina for kissing girls when your sister also happens to have a girlfriend.”

“Hey, what? No Ruby, I’m not homophobic, what the fuck? I was your biggest supporter when you were coming out to Granny. I love you, you know that!”

“Okay, so why are you suddenly all pissy about Regina kissing girls?”

Emma says nothing for too long and Ruby huffs and stuffs her books in her bag and storms out. The two men at the next table give her a dirty look and kiss pointedly. She can proudly say she feels nothing like throwing up. She gives them a weak smile, leaves enough cash to cover their bill and tip, and takes the long way home.

\--

The sun is down by the time she makes it home. Emma brainstorms ways to apologize to her sister as the rickety old elevator takes it’s very slow ascent. Her preoccupation might be why she’s wholly caught by surprise as she steps into the hallway leading to her apartment and sees tree girl being escorted out by Regina. 

As she’s done every single time she’s confronted by Regina and a strange woman, her body stops functioning. Her vision fish-eyes on just two things: the hand Regina has on the small of this woman’s back and how uncomfortable and almost _grossed out_ Emma feels watching it happen.

Regina notices her and clearly winces. Her hand slips away from the girl and presses into her own thigh. She’s chewing on her bottom lip again. It does nothing to relieve the ache in Emma’s chest. 

“Emma.”

“Hey,” Emma says. 

“Hi, I’m Sabine, seriously charmed to meet you on my walk of shame,” the girl apparently named _Sabine_ says.

Emma should be pleased, Sabine obviously has a sense of humour and is incredibly pretty. She’s being nice to Emma when all Emma’s doing is standing very still and acting like kind of an asshole. 

“Yeah, not the first and not the last,” she grits out, brushing past both of them to get into her apartment.

Scratch that, make that a major asshole.

She rushes into her room, throwing her book bag onto the ground and trying not to scream or punch something. She’s livid and sad and she has no reason to be, which upsets her even more. She’s pacing the short length of her room when Regina bursts in, lips pursed and angry.

“Emma Swan, have you hit your head? Are you suffering from some sort of episode? Do I need to call for medical attention? Give me a reason you’re acting like a complete child! What’s the matter with you?”

Emma deflates. “Honestly I don’t know?”

“You don’t know? How could you not know? I said nothing when you and guyliner were being disgusting at every turn and now you’re acting like I’ve put Henry under a sleeping curse!”

Regina looks on the verge of angry tears and Emma feels so low she might cry. She’d hooked up with Killian for a few months because he’d been available and liked her so much, but it was only convenient when Regina was dating Robin, so she could avoid him when he was over. After Robin left the picture, Emma lost all romantic interest in him.

“No, Regina, you’re right. I’ve been shitty to you lately, I’m really sorry. I guess I just didn’t expect to come home to a stranger and I think I’m just having a really bad day, honestly I don’t care who you sleep with,” Emma says, barely suppressing the physical cringe at her own words. 

If anything, Regina looks more upset by her supplication. The tears she was holding at bay overflow and Emma desperately wants to pull her into a hug.

Regina looks away and wipes at her cheeks, head still held high despite the overwhelming emotions in the room. “I’m going to stay at Kathryn’s tonight, don’t wait up,” she announces.

Emma watches as she walks out of the room, listening as drawers open and clothing is folded neatly into bags. When Regina reappears in her doorway with her fancy backpack slung over her shoulder, Emma’s heart begins beating too fast.

“And you’re fine with me being with all these girls as long as I don’t bring them back to our apartment, right?” Regina asks, watching her with bright, beautiful eyes.

The light dims when Emma says, “What you do is your business, Regina.”

Regina nods, and something in Emma’s chest hurts so much she can barely breathe. Regina grips the strap of her bag and disappears from the room. 

Emma sinks into bed, absolutely sick to the stomach, and no matter how badly she wants to, she can’t think of anything but Regina touching Sabine for the rest of the night.

\--

After frantically texting Kathryn and getting confirmation Regina was actually with her, Emma had fallen into fitful bouts of sleep that inescapably led to dreams of Regina and either one of the girls Emma’s seen her with or any iteration of a girl Emma herself knew. One particularly disturbing nightmare involving Mary Margaret dressed in Snow White cosplay kept Emma awake for a good two hours.

It’s with tired eyes she finds herself in front of her sister’s apartment, knocking when she usually let herself in.

Mulan answers and gives her a wary look. “Ruby is very mad at you,” she warns. 

“I fucked up,” Emma says seriously. 

Mulan sighs and puts a hand on her shoulder, the warmth of the gesture relaxes Emma. “I know you love her, Emma, just tell her.”

She nods. “I will.”

So she walks into the apartment and everybody is there except the person she’s been wanting to see for the last twelve hours. 

She sighs, says hi to everyone and after some awkward eye contact, drags an unwilling Ruby onto the balcony. 

“Look, I’m really sorry, okay? I’m seriously not homophobic or I wasn’t until Regina started hooking up with all these girls and I don’t want to hate it but I just _do_ and she’s so mad at me and I can’t have the two most important people in my life angry at me, I feel like I’m dying,” Emma says in one breath and then maybe she’s actually physically dying because she doesn’t have enough air in her lungs. She takes a deep breath and looks at Ruby.

Ruby, her sister, who’s looking at her like she’s insane.

“Emma, are you insane?”

“I just spilled my guts to you?”

“You cannot be serious?”

“I’m being very serious!”

Ruby pushes her, hard enough to bump her against the railing. She rubs at her tailbone and doesn’t have time to complain before Ruby’s grabbed the lapels of her jacket and pulled her in close. “No, you idiot! Do you have feelings for Regina?”

Emma blinks. “What?”

“I’m asking you if you have feelings for your roommate? Regina Mills?”

“No! I’m straight!”

Ruby rolls her eyes, straightens out Emma’s jacket. “Oh please Emma, no straight woman is _that_ invested in a wardrobe of leather jackets, skinny jeans and flannels. So I’ll ask you again, do you have feelings for Regina?”

Emma blinks again and has the distinct feeling of falling out of space and landing on Ruby’s balcony. The way she feels about Regina is, _love?_

“Oh fuck.”

_It’s definitely love._

“Oh fuck is right.”

\--

She and Ruby make up, obviously. Ruby is over the moon about Emma’s recently discovered bisexuality or pansexuality or the sexuality where she’s only really attracted to one woman named Regina Mills with a lip scar and fancy shampoo and a cat named Henry.

Mulan pats her back on the way out that night and mouths, “tell her,” as she shuts the door. Mulan might be psychic? Or just very observant, Emma will have to ask Ruby one day.

Emma goes home with her revelation happily tucked into her pocket. When she opens the door, Regina is sitting on the couch. 

She’s alone, thankfully, but she’s watching tv with a rigid back and unfocused eyes. When Emma moves into the room, Regina stubbornly refuses to look.

So Emma plops down as close as she can, and Regina doesn’t immediately jump away, which Emma counts as a big win. An hour passes, maybe two, and Regina’s relaxed enough to start leaning into Emma.

Netflix is set to a fast and the furious movie, which must mean Regina pressed autoplay on Emma’s list. They watch explosion after declarations of family after explosion after grandiose displays of love after explosion and eventually the end credits begin to roll. Regina’s tucked into the crook of Emma’s arm by then and Emma’s gently rubbing Regina’s arm and Emma reaches over to tap the pause button on Regina’s phone instead of play next.

Regina watches her do this. She also watches Emma swallow nervously and suddenly their faces are very, very close together but not close enough to touch because Emma’s had the other half of the revelation now; the part where Regina might not feel the same way and Emma might actually die.

“I really want to kiss you,” she says despite herself.

Regina breathes steadily for a few seconds and pulls her body back, back, and then she’s standing, breathing much more heavily than before. 

“What did you just say?” 

Emma scrambles to her feet. “I said I really want to kiss you?” 

The shock is melting quickly into a pinched mouth and the vein in Regina’s forehead pulsing. “Is that a question?”

“It wasn’t the first time,” Emma says with a frown.

“Emma, that’s not funny at all.”

“Well I’m not joking.”

“You’re serious?”

Emma nods. “As a heart attack, which by the way, you give me literally every time you smile at me and I can’t believe I didn’t realize how gay I am for you and please, do you like me too? Because I might seriously _love_ you and it would be horrifying if you didn’t feel the same way?”

Regina stares at her, and then lunges at her, pressing their lips together before Emma can get her arms fully around her. 

Kissing Regina is soft and warm and makes Emma feel like she could melt into the floor. One of her hands moves from Regina’s waist into her hair, twisting into it like she’s done countless times on their couch, and Emma realizes it’s always felt like home. 

They kiss, again and again, until she’s the one in Regina’s lap, knees squeezing against thighs and Regina’s fingers gripping her ass. Her hand refuses to leave Regina’s hair and the other is cupping Regina’s cheek with reverence, stroking her jaw as Emma follows her hand with kisses. 

She pulls back and Regina looks breathless, cheeks red and so gorgeous, Emma doesn’t know what to do but to press their lips back together.

Emma gets lost as they kiss and Regina’s hands crawl underneath her tank top. When her senses come back her shirt is already on the other side of the room and she’s managed to unbutton every button on Regina’s blouse, but she somehow manages to break away and lean their foreheads together.

She tries to catch her breath and looks down. Regina looks back up at her with a smile so gentle, Emma could cry from happiness.

“Of course I love you, Emma,” Regina whispers, trailing her hand up Emma’s spine and making her shiver so enthusiastically, she can only whine in response. “I broke up with my boyfriend because I only ever wanted to come home and be with you, I went out with girls that were available because I was pining for you. I even asked you if it bothered you, wasn’t it obvious?”

Emma leans in to kiss Regina again, dips her tongue against Regina’s lip scar because she’s always wanted to and she’s just understood that now. She knows she’s been falling in love for nearly a year now. She feels ridiculous and almost ludicrously happy and Regina needs to know exactly how she feels about her.

“Plot twist: it turns out I don’t have any problem with you kissing girls if it’s me you’re kissing,” Emma says, grinning as she presses her lips against Regina’s.

She doesn’t intend on Regina Mills ever kissing anyone but her.


End file.
